XXIV. Administration of Navigation Laws
Practically every department of the government has to do with some feature or other of the navigation laws as affecting ship building, maritime commerce and ocean transportation. Primarily, however, the administration of the laws is in the hands of the Department of Commerce, under the immediate direction of the Bureau of Navigation, the Steamboat Inspection Service and the United States Shipping Commissioners. Other branches of government service whose functions touch on some phase of navigation are the Public Health Service, with its hospitals and quarantine stations, and the Coast Guard which, since 1915, has included the Revenue Cutter and Life Saving Service. The War and Navy departments also have various functions related primarily to the national defense. The activities of the Shipping Board will be separately reviewed.
Commissioner of Navigation.—
The Bureau of Navigation, under the head of the Commissioner of Navigation, has general superintendence of the merchant marine and seamen so far as they are not directly subject to other departments; it controls the documentation of vessels and has supervision of the laws relating to measurement of vessels, signal numbers and the questions relating to the tonnage tax. It is charged further with the preparation of the annual list of vessels belonging to the merchant marine, has authority to change the names of vessels, and is charged with the preparation of annual reports to the Secretary, and with numerous other miscellaneous but important duties.
Steamboat Inspection Service.—
The Steamboat Inspection Service is under the direction of a Supervising Inspector General appointed by the President, in addition to which there are ten supervising inspectors who meet as a Board in Washington at least once a year and establish regulations necessary to carry out the inspection laws relating to vessels, subject to the right of the Secretary of Commerce to convene a special executive committee, composed of the Supervising Inspector General and two supervising inspectors, who have power to alter and amend these rules with the approval of the secretary.
The principal duty of the supervising inspectors is to supervise the work of a large number of local inspectors of hulls and of boilers, and who in their respective districts, upon designation of the Secretary of Commerce, constitute the Board of Local Inspectors charged with the duties of inspection and the issuance and supervision of licenses already referred to.
Shipping Commissioners.—
The Shipping Commissioners of the United States form a highly responsible body of officers with semi-judicial functions, who are directly responsible to the Secretary of Commerce, by whom they are appointed. The law provides one such officer for each port of entry which is a port of ocean navigation, and which in the judgment of the Secretary shall require the services of a Commissioner, and for whom Congress has made an appropriation. Generally speaking, the duties of the Shipping Commissioner are to afford facilities for engaging seamen; to superintend their engagement and discharge in the manner prescribed by law; to provide means for securing their presence on the board at the proper time; to facilitate the making of apprentices in the sea service; and to perform other duties imposed upon them.
One of the most important and useful functions of a Shipping Commissioner, particularly when the office is in capable hands, is that of arbitrating claims between master, consignee, agent or owner or any of the crew, when both parties agree in writing to submit to the award, it being provided by law that an award made by a Commissioner in such case is binding on both parties and in any legal proceedings is to be deemed conclusive of the rights of the party.
The Commissioners are given authority to call upon owners, agents, masters, for proof or production of books, papers, etc., or to give evidence before the Commissioner subject to a penalty and punishment for contempt for failure to so comply.
As it is the practice to insert arbitration clauses in all steamers' shipping articles, excepting those operated by the Shipping Board, which should be carefully read to the crews before they are signed, this duty is generally viewed by captains and owners as an invaluable aid to shipping and has been accepted also by the majority of seamen. The work of the Commissioners in this direction has been so successful that an effort was recently made to confer upon the Commissioners by law certain magisterial powers subject to appeal to the United States District Courts. So far the effort has been unsuccessful.
Having in mind their responsibilities and enormous possibilities of service to navigation, Shipping Commissioners are among the most pitifully underpaid of government officials. As an illustration of this it may be noted that the Commissioners in the great ports of Philadelphia and of Norfolk receive salaries of $2,400 and of $1,800, respectively.